Nail-driving and clinching tool



Aug. 18, 1964 s. J. KENT 3,144,655

NAIL-DRIVING AND CLINCHING TOOL Filed April 29, less 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z4 A 4 40 38 J6 "'m n NH INVENTOR. .SAMUE 1. J KEN! 6. JQMZ-w- ATTORNEY Aug. 18, 1964 5. J. KENT 3,144,655

NAIL-DRIVING AND CLINCHING TOOL Filed April 29, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 [)flwm 36 I INVENTOR. SAMUEL J, KE/VT United States Patent 3,144,655 NAIL-DRIVING AND CLINCHING T601 Samuel J. Kent, 6432 Sunnyslope Ave, Van Nnys, alif. Filed Apr. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 276,314 Claims. (Cl. 195) This invention relates to a tool for driving and clinching nails and is an improvement of the tool disclosed in Patent No. 3,061,837.

In the construction of building walls, particularly stuccocovered walls, metal lath, either expanded metal or largemesh metal screening, is ordinarily fastened to the wall frame in such spaced relation thereto as to receive and hold stucco, or other such plaster-like material, firmly on the wall frame. The conventional way of mounting screen-type metal lath is to interpose paper wads or other such spacers between the wall frame and the lath and drive large-headed nails through said spacers into the wall frame so that the heads thereof overlap portions of the lath to secure the same in spaced relation to the wall frame. This conventional way of mounting lath is not only time-consuming but does not fully insure that the nail heads will achieve desired overlap with the mesh of the lath. Also, paper wads embedded in a stucco or other plaster or cement wall may deteriorate, allowing the lath to move relative to the wall frame and induce crack-formation and crumbling of the stucco.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved tool for driving nails to secure metal lath in proper spaced relation to a wall frame and, particularly, to provide improved means for clinching the nail around portions of the lath with which the same is engaged.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tool, as above characterized, that embodies means having a power advantage over the clinching means disclosed in the above mentioned patent.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical ,of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a nail-driving and -clinching tool in operative position, the nail-feeding magazine thereof being partly broken away as is the pneumatic operating device for said tool.

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof showing the nail-feeding magazine in cross-section.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing the tool at the end of its nail-driving and -clinching operation.

FIG. 5 is an end view of the tool as seen from the right of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are cross-sectional views as taken on the respective lines 6-6 and 7-7 of FIG. 2.

The present tool 9 is adapted to be mounted on the end of a pneumatic operating gun which, for the purposes of the present invention, is provided with a reciprocating plunger 10 (FIG. 4). In this case, said gun is provided with a pair of parallel guide rods 11 with which are telescopically engaged slide sleeves 12. The tool 9 is afiixed to said sleeves and is telescopically movable rela- 3,144,655 Patented Aug. 18, 1964 tive to the pneumatic gun, and a nail driver 13 is carried by the plunger 10 to be reciprocated pneumatically by the gun.

The above generally described tool is devised to drive nails into a wall frame A and to clinch over portions B of a metal lath in such a manner as to hold said lath in spaced relation, as shown, from frame A.

The tool 9 comprises, generally, a nose guide 14, a nail magazine 15 secured to and extending laterally from said nose guide, the mentioned nail driver 13, and nailclinching means 16 operated by the plunger 10 of the pneumatic gun independently and in sequence to the naildriving movement of the driver 13.

The nose guide 14 comprises a base plate 17 provided with an integral cross flange 18 to which the sleeves 12 are aflixed. A slideway 19 extends longitudinally in said base plate and opens at the nose 20 of said plate, into a transverse enlargement 21. A recess 22 is formed in the end of the nose 20, the same being defined between an end edge 23 of the nose and an end edge 24 of said nose shorter than the end edge 23.

The magazine 15 comprises a mounting base 25 that is secured by bolts 26 to the base plate 17 of the nose guide, and a set of magazine walls 27, 28 and 29 that guides nails 39 to a position in the path of movement of the nail driver 13. Said nails are each provided with a point 31 at one end and with a return-bent clinch end 32 at the other, the magazine wall 28 serving to guide said nails so the clinch ends 32 thereof are all oriented the same Way.

The nail clinching means 16 is shown as comprising a slide member 33 that is guided in the slideway 19, the same having a rearward end edge 34 adapted to be engaged by the forward end of the plunger 10 to be moved, by the power of said plunger, forwardly, and a forward end edge 35 that is disposed at a downward and rearward angle. The bolts 26 extend through slots 36 in slide member 33, the same limiting the retractive movement of said member.

A rabbet groove 37 in said member 33 is occupied by the nail driver 13 which moves longitudinally therealong.

The means 16 further comprises a clinching lever 38 that resides in the enlarged space 21 of the nose guide 14 and is freely pivotal on a stud 39. It will be noted that said lever is disposed in the path of movement of the slide member 23 and is engaged by said member with the full power imparted by the plunger 10 to cause the free end 40 thereof to move a greater distance forwardly than the nail-clinching extension 41 moves downwardly. Hence, the lever 38 is arranged to provide a power advantage that clinches the clinch end 32 of the nail with a force greater than that applied by the plunger 10.

In operation, with the tool extended along the rods 11 and sleeves 12 against a stop provided therefor, the nose of the guide is presented to a lath part B, the longer end edge 23 aiding alignment of the recess 22 with said lath part. Said end edge is abutted against the wall frame A. Now, the pneumatic gun is pushed toward the wall until the end of the driver 13 engages and pushes a nail 30 in the rabbet 37 to bring the point 31 thereof against the wall A. Upon pneumatic operation of the plunger 10, the driver 13 forces the nail into said frame, the operation being continued so the plunger 10 engages the end edge 34 of the slide member 33 pushing the same from the position of FIG. 3 to that of FIG. 4. In the process of this movement, the end edge 35 of member 33 encounters the upper portion of the rearward edge of lever 33, causing the latter to rock on its pivot stud 39. As the plunger 10 reaches the end of its drive movement, as in FIG. 4, the clinching extension 41 of the lever 38 encounters and inwardly bends or clinches the nail end 32 to encircle the lath part B.

Upon retraction of the tool, the slide member is released by the plunger, allowing the lever to free itself from the clinched nail preparatory to the next operation of the tool.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A tool for driving nails that have return-bent clinch ends on the driving ends of said nails and for clinching said ends around a portion of a lath or the like, said tool comprising:

(a) a nose guide having an end notch therein to receive such a lath portion,

(b) a nail driver guided in said nose guide and carried by a pneumatically-operated plunger to drive a nail from the nose guide, and

(0) means independent of the nail driver and operatively engaged by said plunger near the end of the driving movement of the driver to clinch the returnbent end of said nail around said lath portion,

(d) said nail-end clinching means comprising a slide member disposed at one side edge of the nail driver and having a rearward end engageable by the plunger and movable thereby in a direction toward the nose guide,

(e) a clinching lever on a pivot spaced from the opposite side edge of the nail driver and extending from said pivot alongside the driving end of the nail driver and having a free end in the path of movement of the slide member for engagement and movement by said slide member in a forwardly and downwardly directed arc to nail-clinching position.

2. A tool according to claim 1 in which the nose guide is provided with upper and lower portions defining the 4. In a tool for driving nails that have return-bent clinch portions on the ends of the nails that are driven, the tool having a fiat body with an end that has a lathreceivrng recess,

(a) a lever extending generally transversely in said body rearwardly of said recess and provided with a forwardly directed portion on one end thereof to clinch a nail around the lath in the recess,

(b) a pivot mounting said lever, by its opposite end,

on the body,

(0) the lever being freely movable, from its generally transverse disposition, in an arc that is first generally forward and then in a direction toward the clinch end of the nail,

(d) a longitudinally movable driver directed toward said recess between the free end of the lever and the pivot thereof, and

(e) a slide engaged by the driver during the final portion of the nail-driving movement to engage and love the lever in a nail-clinching movement.

5. A tool for driving nails that have return-bent clinch ends on the driving ends of said nails and for clinching said ends around a portion of a lath or the like, said tool compnsing:

(a) a nose guide having an end notch therein to receive such a lath portion,

(b) a nail driver guided in said nose guide and carried by a pneumatically-operated plunger to drive a nail from the nose guide,

(c) a slide member on one side of the nail driver and movable longitudinally in said nose guide by the plunger and engaged by said plunger near the end of the nail-driving movement of the driver thereon, and

(d) a lever having a free end engaged by and forwardly moved by the slide member, and a pivot for said lever on the opposite side of the nose guide, said lever being provided with a forward extension on said free end to move in a downward direction to engage with and clinch the return-bent end of said nail around said lath portion when the slide member moves the free end of the lever, on its pivot, in a forward direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,061,837 Kent Nov. 6, 1962 

1. A TOOL FOR DRIVING NAILS THAT HAVE RETURN-BENT CLINCH ENDS ON THE DRIVING ENDS OF SAID NAILS AND FOR CLINCHING SAID ENDS AROUND A PORTION OF A LATH OR THE LIKE, SAID TOOL COMPRISING: (A) A NOSE GUIDE HAVING AN END NOTCH THEREIN TO RECEIVE SUCH A LATH PORTION, (B) A NAIL DRIVER GUIDED IN SAID NOSE GUIDE AND CARRIED BY A PNEUMATICALLY-OPERATED PLUNGER TO DRIVE A NAIL FROM THE NOSE GUIDE, AND (C) MEANS INDEPENDENT OF THE NAIL DRIVER AND OPERATIVELY ENGAGED BY SAID PLUNGER NEAR THE END OF THE DRIVING MOVEMENT OF THE DRIVER TO CLINCH THE RETURNBENT END OF SAID NAIL AROUND SAID LATH PORTION, (D) SAID NAIL-END CLINCHING MEANS COMPRISING A SLIDE MEMBER DISPOSED AT ONE SIDE EDGE OF THE NAIL DRIVER AND HAVING A REARWARD END ENGAGEABLE BY THE PLUNGER AND MOVABLE THEREBY IN A DIRECTION TOWARD THE NOSE GUIDE, (E) A CLINCHING LEVER ON A PIVOT SPACED FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE EDGE OF THE NAIL DRIVER AND EXTENDING FROM SAID PIVOT ALONGSIDE THE DRIVING END OF THE NAIL DRIVER AND HAVING A FREE END IN THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF THE SLIDE MEMBER FOR ENGAGEMENT AND MOVEMENT BY SAID SLIDE MEMBER IN A FORWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY DIRECTED ARC TO NAIL-CLINCHING POSITION. 